


Anti-U

by Mafy_mod



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Anti-Crime Police Force, Crime Fighting, Multi, Organized Crime, Police, Swearing, Teikou is a former crime syndicate, Violence, so all Teikou members are former gangstars
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2020-10-10 05:34:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20522780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mafy_mod/pseuds/Mafy_mod
Summary: The Anti-Crime Police Force is with its hands tied when dealing with a newly appeared extremely dangerous and violent crime syndicate that is aiming to conquer all of Tokyo - maybe even the entire Japan.Much like the Teikou Group had years ago, before it suddenly disbanded and its members spread all over the country.Aida Riko, the Superintendent of the Anti-Crime Police Force, devises a new elimination strategy and for it to successfully work, the former gangsters need to reunite once again and learn to work together a second time.Some of them are more accepting of the plan than others. Some have second intentions towards it. Some simply want revenge.





	1. Operation - Start

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone!
> 
> I'm sorry for the recent lack of updates -.-' My health hasn't been doing so well lately and then my computer crashed for stupid reasons like the moronic updates that Windows forces on all of us >.> I'll try to keep things more regular now that those things are halfway solved.
> 
> Anyways. Remember me saying that I wouldn't add any new series until I completed the ongoing ones? Well... F*ck...
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

“WHAT!?” yelped Kagami Taiga, jumping out of his chair and strongly slamming his big hands on the meeting table. A dead shocked expression remained on his features as he gawked at the Superintendent of the Anti-Crime Police Force from Tokyo region. “W-Wait a freaking moment here, Riko-san! Let me see if I got everything straight. You want to use the members of a former crime syndicate, who are only still roaming around free due to lack of proofs to get them locked up in jail, to eradicate this new crime syndicate threatening to wreck Tokyo…?”

“Yes, I think that’s what I just said, Bakagami-kun,” sighed Aida Riko, crossing her hands over the documents placed in front of her seat.

“Have ya gone fuckin’ insane!?” yelped Kagami once again, unconsciously slipping back to English as his red eyes only widened even further.

“I understand that this strategic measure may sound a bit… weird to all of you,” said Riko while staring straight to the redhead’s eyes - albeit her voice showed a certain reluctance in her plan. “But this crime syndicate is nothing like the ones we’ve managed to disband so far. We’ve tried countless countermeasures against them and all of you know very well which were the results we’ve obtained so far. We’ve lost more comrades these last two weeks than we did in the last two decades.”

“...” At hearing those words, Kagami sat back on his seat, a raging frown creasing his face.

“Fighting fire with fire!” declared Riko, powerful pressing the enter button in the laptop next to her seat and turning on the screen displayed in one of the meeting room’s walls. Countless photographs appeared in it. “A few years ago, the entirety of Tokyo… no, the entire Japan was being controlled by a merciless crime syndicate on the background. This crime syndicate wasn’t disbanded by the Anti-Crime Police Force nor was it defeated by a rival gang. It simply faded into thin air all of a sudden, with no rhyme or rhythm to it. Most of their members or joined other gangs or were eventually arrested. We do have a full listing of all of their members, for some very convenient reason…? So we’ve been keeping tabs on the more… Well, let’s call them worrisome members.”

“And it’s these worrisome members that you want to use to eradicate the new threat?” inquired Hyuuga Junpei, an eyebrow slightly arched as he observed the photos on the screen one by one.

“If we needed more grunt workers, I could just use my crocodile tears and ask daddy dearest to send me a few platoons from the army,” said Riko, giving an unworried shrug with her shoulders. “But what we are in dire need of is specialists. And there are no better specialists in fighting crime syndicates than former members of a disbanded crime syndicate… right?”

“Wait… Akashi Seijuurou, Aomine Daiki, Midorima Shintarou, Haizaki Shougo…” read Izuki Shun out loud, his eyes quickly going through the names placed below each photo. He gulped down hard, trying to moisten his suddenly dry throat. “...Aren’t all of them from…?”

“Yes,” acknowledged Riko, a knowing smirk slowly tugging at the corner of her lips. “The Teikou Group will be regrouped for an unlimited amount of time… starting today.”

-.-

“Can I expect another visit from you tomorrow?” sheepishly asked Kise Ryouta, a devilish smirk on his lips as he leaned forward to whisper those words against the young woman’s moist lips.

“As soon as I get out of the office, I’ll come right away,” said the young woman, also leaning into the blonde’s sensual touches. “I don’t want any other woman sitting next to my Ryouta.”

“I wouldn’t want that either,” purred Kise, delivering a gentle kiss to the young woman’s intoxicated cheek. “I’ll be waiting for you then. Even if every hour I’m away from you will be spent in agony and loneliness… I’ll always wait for you.”

“I’ll come, I’ll definitely come tomorrow too,” declared the young woman, her knees nearly buckling down at those sweet, sweet nothings. She also gave a small peck to Kise’s cheek and then exited the entrance area of the host club, her walking wobbly due to all the alcohol she consumed inside.

“Hmm~ Hmmm~” hummed Kise, turning sightly around to see his appearance in the short mirror in the wall. He cleaned the lipstick marks from his cheek and lips with a handkerchief and threw it away in a nearby trash can, readily adjusting his expensive suit afterwards. “One more piggy bank has been added to my bank account~”

“Kise Ryouta?”

“Yes~!” cheerfully answered back Kise, quickly turning his body around to look at the person who had called his name. He was greeted by two tall men, clearly not the usual type of client for a male host club. He happily smiled at them, nevertheless. “Is there something that I can help you with?”

“We’re from the Anti-Crime Police Force,” declared Hyuuga, both he and Kiyoshi Teppei taking their badges from their pants’ pockets and opening them right before the blonde’s eyes. “We’d appreciate it if you could come with us so we can have a little talk.”

“Do you have any detention warrant with you?” asked Kise, tilting his head slightly to the left as he innocently peered at the two police officers.

“This is merely a friendly conversation,” said Kiyoshi, a soft smile on his lips. “But we can go get it from the car if you want to.”

“Heh! No, that won’t be needed,” shortly laughed Kise as he gently massaged the back of his neck. He walked over to the two officers and leisurely passed by them as he motioned towards the open front door. “I’ll voluntarily go.”

“We appreciate your cooperation,” acknowledged Kiyoshi, who followed the blonde closely from behind while beside Kiyoshi.

“I’ll voluntarily go home right this moment!” suddenly announced Kise, immediately darting to the front door. As he ran, he turned his head slightly back and stuck his tongue out at the two officers. “Did you seriously think I would just let myself be arrested by the likes of- ACK!!”

“This one was fucking easy to catch,” declared Kasamatsu Yukio, putting the metallic trash can back on the floor - right next to the unconscious former gangster. “If all of them are this stupid, maybe they won’t be much help after all.”

-.-

Even with the door closed, booming music could be heard inside of the VIP room from the nightclub. The smell of cigarettes mingled with the sweetness of alcoholic beverages.

“56, 57, 58 million yen,” counted Aomine Daiki as he piled several money bundles on top of a short table. He picked up his glass of whiskey from the same table and downed its contents in one go. “I say burn half of it in the casino and save the other half for alcohol, drugs and boobs!”

“Do whatever you want with your half, Dai-chan,” leisurely said Momoi Satsuki, laid down on one of the sofas. Her legs wobbled around in the air as she focused her pink eyes on her laptop’s screen. “I just tripled mine after buying a couple of stocks and inflating the rivalling market.”

“Satsuki, you fucking wench!” growled Aomine, throwing the empty glass against the wall behind the sofa Momoi was using. “You should have done that before we split the sploits of wars! I would have the fucking triple to spend in boobs!!!”

“You already have my boobs, stop cheating on me once and for all!” admonished Momoi, finally ripping her eyes off of the screen so she could venomously glare at the tanned male. “The next time I catch you cheating with my own eyes, I’ll make sure you catch some sort of STD afterwards!!”

“Leave my dick out of this, it has nothing to do it with,” grumbled Aomine, lifting his hand in the air and calling the bartender of the VIP room. “Hey, Sakurai! Get me another whiskey. In a bigger glass, in case I need to protect my cock from this vixen.”

“Sakurai-kun, sweetie, bring a bucket filled with iced water instead, please,” interrupted Momoi, strongly closing the laptop before she sat straight on the sofa. “Dai-chan is in dire need to cool down the head he should be using to think!”

“Ah… Y-Yes! I-I-I’m sorry!!!” acknowledged Sakurai Ryou with a trembling voice, immediately starting to prepare the two orders he had received. As he walked back and forth behind the counter, he maskedly pressed the button hidden in one of its inner shelves.

“Geez… Don’t you know how much it hurts me when you go around sleeping with prostitutes and random sluts…?” pouted Momoi, crossing her arms underneath her chest and making it even more accentuated underneath her revealing clothes.

“You say that as if you also don’t spread your legs open whenever another man or woman catches your interest,” grumbled Aomine, also crossing his arms and turning his head the other way.

“I’ll stop cheating if you stop chea-” started Momoi but the sudden bursting of the door swallowed her words. She immediately whipped her head towards the broken door, her eyes open wide in surprise when she saw several special ops soldiers stepping inside of the VIP room.

“Shit…!” cursed Aomine, motioning his hand towards his back to grab his handgun.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” warned Kagami, pointing his rifle at the tanned male. “We need your brain inside of your skull.”

“I-I-I’m sorry…!” apologised Sakurai, pointing a small handgun at the back of Aomine’s head.

“Now, will you two come with or without blood being spilt?” asked Kagami, still aiming at the two former gangsters.

-.-

“Left or right?” asked Midorima Shintarou, pressing with his finger on the button of the wireless communication device in his ear.

_ “Turn right and then right again on the next alley,” _ instructed Takao Kazunari, the sound of the keyboard being used at the speed of light accompanying his voice.

“Oha Asa said that Cancers shouldn’t use alleys today or they might arouse a wave of bad luck on themselves,” said Midorima, coming to a sudden halt. A frown of dissatisfaction was creasing his brow.

_ “You use that alley or you don’t arrive at the target on time~” _ pointed out Takao with a sing-song voice. _ “It’s your choice, Shin-chan. I can give you another route but it will take longer for you to get there. You’re going to miss your mark at this rate.” _

“Tsk!” Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Midorima adjusted his glasses and resumed with his running. The snipping rifle inside of a long black bag lightly bumped against his back with the motions of his body. “This is why I hate taking sudden works…”

_ “Being a hitman is all about taking sudden works alongside with the requests from the regular customers, Shin-chan~” _ cheerfully said Takao, snickering a little bit afterwards.

“How long until I get in position?” asked Midorima, his partner’s dismissive words angering him even further.

_ “You’re aaaaaaalmost there!” _ announced Takao, a few more typing happening in the background. _ “Oh! I guess this is the right time to tell you this then.” _

“What is it now?” asked Midorima, rolling his eyes around as he stepped into the dark alley and quickly ran through it.

_ “Actually… I’m an undercover agent for the Anti-Crime Police Force,” _ said Takao, his voice getting strangely serious for once in his life. _ “I quite like you as a person, Shin-chan… So just do what they tell you to do...please?” _

“...!” Midorima hastily came into a second halt to his running that moonless night. The end of the alley was barricaded with several rifle-wielding police officers.

-.-

“Hey, Haizaki! Take those bags outside too!” yelled Nijimura Shuuzou as he wiped a freshly washed glass with a towel.

“Shut up! Stop ordering me around!” yelled Haizaki Shougo back, angrily kicking a nearby cupboard and nearly making its door fall off of the hinges. Nevertheless, he stomped towards the back door of the small bar, grabbing the garbage bags on his way there.

Releasing a tired sigh while rolling his eyes around, Nijimura placed the cleaned glass on its corresponding shelf and grabbed the next one. The night was a calm one and there was nowhere inside the bar at the moment, so they could take it easy and focus on other things rather than catering to half-drunk customers. He knew that there would eventually pop up a customer. They always did.

“Is the store open?”

“Yeah, it is,” half-heartedly answered Nijimura, taking a quick peek towards the short lance of stairs that connected the front door and the main bar area.

“Oh great,” acknowledged Imayoshi Shoichi, hands inside of his suit’s pockets as he went down the stairs. “I was about to freeze to death outside. How about you give me something that can warm me up?”

“Any request in special?” asked Nijimura, placing the washed glass on the shelf and then throwing the towel to the counter behind him.

“Hm… Why don’t you two come with me to the Anti-Crime Police Force’s headquarters?” suggested Imayoshi, placing his badge on top of the counter at the same time as he pointed to the front door with his thumb. “That should warm up all of us.”

“...” Nijimura silently observed the badge for a couple of seconds, then sighed. He took a package of cigarettes from his apron’s pocket, popped one into his mouth and lit it up, sucking in a long drag afterwards. “Hey, Haizaki! Come here!”

“Fuck you, Nijimura!” roared Haizaki, slamming the back door behind himself as he stepped inside of the staff area of the bar. “I’ve told you time and time again that I’m not your fucking slave! And I’m not your fucking dog ei-”

“Shut up!” yelled Nijimura, grabbing Haizaki by the back of his neck and strongly slamming his face against the counter. Haizaki’s body fell completely motionless on the floor. After a few more seconds of silent smoking, Nijimura put out the cigarette on a nearby ashtray. “Okay, we can go now.”

-.-

“Hello, Riko-san. Himuro speaking,” said Himuro Tatsuya, gently wiping the sweat from his brows with the back of his free hand. “I’d like to make my report.”

_ “How did it go from your side?” _ inquired Riko, a spec of anxiety showing in her voice.

“The target, Murasakibara Atsushi, has been acquired,” announced Himuro, looking down at the purple-haired male sleeping by his feet on the floor. “Everything went according to the plan. Well, I did have to use horse dosage in terms of sleeping pills but he’s completely out and will keep on sleeping for a good couple of hours. I’m now waiting for backup to arrive so we can return to Tokyo. He’s far too big and heavy for me to transport him there on my own.”

_ “Perfect. Good job, Himuro-kun,” _ acknowledged Riko, her voice now sounding more chipper. _ “Most of the other teams have also successfully apprehended their targets. Please try to return to Tokyo as fast as you can so we can put the operation in motion.” _

“I will.”

-.-

Akashi Seijuurou finished signing the last contract of the day and leaned his back of his cushioned chair. He sighed as he closed the fountain pen, neatly putting it back on its metallic support. He also neatly put the contracts inside of one of the drawers of his desk and then locked it, randomly throwing the key to the other side of his office afterwards.

He got up from his chair, put on a long coat over his refined suit and then walked over to his office’s closed door. He quickly checked the time with his wristwatch and chuckled.

“Wah!!” yelped Furihata Kouki in surprise when the closed door he and his fellow police officers were about to break into opened without any warning. He and the other officers immediately pointed their weapons at the heterochromatic redhead.

“Quite punctual, aren’t you?” said Akashi as he continued walking through the long corridor as if he wasn’t being aimed at with several loaded rifles and handguns. “That’s a characteristic I quite like in police officers. It makes them very predictable.”

“Y-You knew we were coming…?” hesitantly asked Furihata, tightening his hold to his handgun as he continued aiming at the walking redhead.

“But of course,” said Akashi, a mischievous smirk on his lips as he came to a halt and looked over his shoulder at the police group behind him. “I always know everything. Now, can we go to your headquarters or do you still need something else from my building? I’m not hiding any corpses in this location so it wouldn’t be a very enjoyable search for you either way.”


	2. Proposal - Fail

“I’m sleeepy…” groaned Murasakibara, sluggishly rubbing his forehead against the table while sat down on the chair. One of his wrists was handcuffed to the chair’s armrest. “Sleeepyyyy…”

“Better sleepy than with a monumental headache…” also groaned Haizaki, his body thrown back against the chair’s backrest and head hanging loosely backwards. “Fuck you, Nijimura… I hope you get run over by a fucking truck or drown after slipping in the shower…”

“At least you didn’t have a trash can shoved on your face…” whimpered Kise, his head and upper body slumped over the table’s surface. One of his hands was trying to shield his eyes from the lights on the ceiling, the other remained next to the armrest due to the handcuffs.

“Heh… Are you trying to return to your origins, Ryouta?” mocked Haizaki, his shoulders quivering for a few seconds as he inwardly laughed at the image.

“Fuck off, Shougo. I’m not in the mood for your yankee behaviour right now…” groaned Kise back, briefly throwing the middle finger at the ashen haired male before resuming with shielding himself from the light.

“Well then, shall we get down to business?” said Riko as soon as she stepped inside of the large meeting-room-turned-detention-room. She was closely followed by Hyuuga, Kiyoshi and Kagami.

“Ohh. Hearing about your adventures really never gets boring,” laughed Nijimura, leisurely sat down on a chair after having attentively listened to Aomine narrating his latest millionaire scheme. “And you, Momoi… Oh, wait. Can I still call you Momoi? Or have you two already tied the knot?”

“Hah, as if!” barked Aomine, throwing a sideways glare at the pink-haired woman sitting next to him. “If I were to marry this old hag, I’m sure she would find a way to make me pay some sort of alimony every time I cheated on her. Ohh, wait a fucking minute…! I could do the same!! Satsuki, wanna get married?”

“You cheat more than I do,” pointed out Momoi, a knowing smirk on her lips as she seductively adjusted her sitting position. “Are you sure you want to throw away the little crumbles you use to sleep around?”

“Yeah, better forget that one…” grumbled Aomine under his breath. He loudly cleared his throat and returned his attention to the black-haired male. “What about you, Nijimura-san? What have you been up to the last few years?”

“Getting people so drunk, they don’t even realise they just lost two or three salaries worth in a single night,” proudly announced Nijimura. He then shrugged his shoulders and used his free hand to point in Haizaki’s direction. “That and making sure that asshole over there doesn’t get arrested after thinking up another shit plan.”

“Babysitting down to the grave, huh, Nijimura-san! Ahahahaha!” loudly laughed Aomine, lightly tapping his feet on the floor in amusement.

“Can I have your attention, please?” tried Riko once again, a vein popping out on her forehead over being utterly ignored by all of the Teikou’s former members.

“Kise, Haizaki, Murasakibara, could you stop your whining already?” admonished Midorira, softly adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. “It’s starting to get extremely annoying. ...Idiots, all of them… Where were we again, Akashi?”

“The left syndicate’s candidate to the presidency,” said Akashi, leisurely sat down on the chair as he had his conversation with Midorima. “That assassination of yours was a very inconvenient move on my side. He was helping me pull a few strings here and there. I had to dedicate a few hours of my busy schedule to fix that afterwards.”

“A few hours, huh…” grumbled Midorima, lightly rolling his eyes at that sarcastic remark. No, knowing Akashi, he had truly meant all of them - which only made them even more aggravating.

_ Bang!! _

“Will you all shut up already!?” yelled Riko after having taken hold of Hyuuga’s handgun and fired it in the ceiling’s direction. The room was immediately filled with silence. “Good. Now let’s start.”

“Ohh… I like her~” giggled Momoi with a hushed voice, which earned her a sideways glare and some inaudible grumbled from Aomine.

“Unlike what you’re thinking, we didn’t bring you here tonight to arrest any of you,” started Riko, stopping in front of a mobile whiteboard, previously brought to the meeting room before they began collecting the former gangsters inside of it. “We have a proposal to make all of you and your future will literally be decided depending on your answer.”

“Well, I’ll be damned!” barked Aomine, motioning his handcuffed hand as high up in the air as he could. “These handcuffs and all of those soldiers and rifles had me fooled for a moment!”

“What kind of proposal?” asked Nijimura, a frown on his features as he closely observed the young woman.

“You being who you are, I’m sure you already are aware of this, but Tokyo is getting a bit shaky lately,” explained Riko. “This new crime syndicate that decided to make a nest out of it is running amok right now trying to make it their permanent residence. To summarise it, the Anti-Crime Police Force is losing.”

“Heh… Why am I not surprised over hearing that?” snorted Haizaki, a nasty sneer on his lips.

“Our proposal is having you join our force and eliminate this crime syndicate,” added Riko, as a finale to this initial introduction to the problem. “Permanently. No member is to be left roaming around free or to join other gangs or crime syndicates.”

“Guys… I think we were caught by a bunch of mentally unstable people…” hesitantly said Kise, carefully looking around the room. “Maybe they’re not even real police officers anymore!!”

“That’s quite fancy coming from you, indeed,” scoffed Midorima, a deep frown on his face as he awkwardly crossed his arms over his chest as the best of his ability. “You want a group of wanted criminals to help you destroy a growing crime syndicate and capture all of its members? Why would you think we would ever agree with such moronic plan?”

“Both sides will win something out of it,” shortly said Riko, his demeanour dead serious as those words came out of her mouth. “That’s why I know you’ll agree to it.”

“And what could this something that we’ll win be?” inquired Akashi, an unreadable expression on his features as he closely observed Riko.

“For starters, a reduction of 5 to 15 years in your sentences,” announced Riko, rotating the whiteboard and revealing what had been written on the other side. “The option of spending half of the remaining sentence in parole, after paying a certain fee or accepting the use of an electronic tag, or paying it through community service. And, of course, a nice prison instead of an abusive one.”

“Oh, that’s just great!” sarcastically said Kise, rolling his eyes around at those ‘rewards’. “If I make the sums, that means we’d be out of prison on our 60s! Nice time to start walking around with an electronic tag on our ankle or doing community service, wouldn’t you think?”

“Better than being sent straight away to the graveyard…” softly mumbled Kagami under his breath.

“Ryouta is absolutely right,” acknowledged Akashi with a small nod of his head. “This proposal of yours is more beneficial to you than to us. Not only do you get to use others to do your job and get rid of that crime syndicate, but you also get to finally put the member of the Teikou Group behind bars. And what do we get? A shorter sentence accompanied by the option of forced work or complete loss of privacy. Congratulations. You made the right decision in going for the corrupt police force rather than business.”

“Don’t blame us for your poor life choices,” coldly stated Riko as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Getting all of that is the best any of you could ever expect to have. If I’m not mistaken, the death penalty would be the applied sentence to most of you. Being in jail until you’re all old and wrinkled is the same as not being punished at all, after all the evil you did.”

“Spoken like a true police officer,” scoffed Midorima, disgust all over his face as he averted looking in their direction.

“It’s probably foolish of me to think that any of you could ever understand us but your views of Teikou are completely wrapped because of those messed up ideals you call ‘justice’,” said Akashi, a condescending glint in his eyes even though his semblance remained the same. “It’s quite easy to preach to others about crime and evil when you never had to worry about starving yourself to death due to lack of food, isn’t it? I bet you never watched people you considered family dying before your eyes because you couldn’t afford to buy medicine or go to the hospital. Have you ever been in a situation where you got stopped and assaulted by police officers because you passed by them in the streets of a less savoury area of the town? Did you learn how to read and write from a teacher or did you have to teach yourself that because the orphanage where you were put on didn’t even care enough to send their children to school? Now tell me, Aida Riko… Should we really blame ourselves for our ‘poor life choices’?”

“None of that excuses the fact that you killed, stole and caused so much damage to the lives of so many people,” pointed out Riko - though her throat had gotten quite dry and raspy and the palms of her hands were now coated in a thin layer of cold sweat.

“Yes, I guess that’s true,” acknowledged Akashi, adjusting his seating position and leaning his back on his seat. “When you do evil once, none of what follows will ever be good. Have fun eliminating the crime syndicate on your own. We’ll do the same in prison.”

“You might have had a chance to convince some of us into helping you out, you know?” added Nijimura, leisurely putting his elbow on top of the armrest and then leaning the side of his face on his closed hand. “But you completely lost all of us the moment you said ‘don’t blame us for your poor life choices’. We’re humans, not beasts or wild animals. We didn’t choose to kill, steal or wreck lives. Your ‘justice’ made us do it. Your ‘money’ made us do it. Your ‘rights’ and ‘freedom’ made us do it. Having one last chance to completely fuck up your plans before going to prison  _ is _ the best outcome for any of us.”

“We’re not fucking pussies who are scared of spending the rest of our lives in prison or dying!” barked Aomine, a mischievous smirk on his lips. “If we were, you wouldn’t be having this conversation with us right now, but with another set of misfits!”

  
“You only can set up the ‘rules’ of negotiations or proposals when you have the upper hand,” started Akashi once again. “If I didn’t mishear you, you said you’re losing against the crime syndicate, aren’t you? If you want to use us, then don’t order us around or try to make offers that we’ll never accept. Beg us. Beg us to help you because that oh so powerful justice of yours cannot take care of a bunch of gangsters alone. Maybe then we’ll consider it, but don’t get your hopes too high. None of us is fond of police officers and all of us are  _ very _ fond of gangsters.”


	3. Deal - No Deal

As someone who grew up in a family of police officers and justice-related workers, Riko simply couldn’t quite tolerate crime and evil. It always had pained her, even as a child, when the TV was turned on and news after news reported the foolishness of ones and how it affected or, sometimes, ruined others’ lives.

Part of that pain, however, came from the inability that the police and the judicial system had in dealing with such cases. If there are so many laws that people had to abide by, why did people still break them and did evil? If there were so many officers and soldier enforcing order and peace in all corners of the country, why did crime persist?

The answer was more than obvious, even if everyone did their best to pretend not to see it.

Laws were ineffective because they only beneficiate some and excluded most. Crime persisted not because there was a lack of laws… but because the laws got in the way of the biggest percentage of the population.

Every single human in the world tried their best to survive. If the laws were in the way to achieve that survival, then they were thrown away, together with everything in its wake.

Riko opened the meeting room’s door for the second time that day, this time only accompanied by a big frown on her face and a small pile of documents on her right hand. Opposed to her first entrance, the meeting room was still as silent as went she left it after the failed negotiation attempt.

“I had a few words with the higher-ups,” shortly said Riko, throwing the documents to on top of the meeting table, right next to the seat occupied by Akashi. “Is this a reward big enough for these eight mad dogs?”

“...” Silent as a suspicious cat, Akashi picked up the documents with his free hand and started reading the contents on the first page. He then quickly skirted his eyes through the remaining ones. He couldn’t help the smirk that blossomed on his lips. “And then you call yourself ‘justice defenders’ and ‘protectors of the laws’. If we’re mad dogs, then you’re nothing but rotten dogs dying by the gutter.”

The same knowing smirk on his face, Akashi passed the documents to Midorima, who was sitting next to him. Midorima also went through the papers from beginning to end, his green eyes slowly opening wide in surprise. After having cleared his throat, he passed the documents to the next ones, and that one to the other, until every single former member of the Teikou Group had read them.

“Now I don’t know if I should feel thankful towards corruption or not, hehehe…” snickered Haizaki, his back sliding slightly against the backrest of the chair at the same time as he pushed one of his knees up and placed the heel of his foot on the chair. “I mean, it’s not like I ever wanted to be in Santa Claus’ list and get a present from him during Christmas Night. The list of the naughty kids is more interesting~”

_ Is this what you were aiming for with all of that back and forth conversation, Akashi? _ , asked Midorima in the back of his head, his eyes sideways peering at the smirking heterochromatic redhead.  _ A background whited out of all the crime you practised in the past? But a blank criminal record won’t erase any of what you or any of us did… _

“So is that a yes or a no?” asked Riko one more time, her mood only getting sourer because of it. “That’s a printout of your current criminal record. We have erased all crimes we were aware of you committing, as well as all of your involvement with the disbanded Teikou Group. You went from demons to saints in a matter of seconds. It hasn’t arrived at the main server, however. It will depend on your answer if it ever gets there or not.”

“You have a yes from my side~” acknowledged Kise, happily raising his free hand up in the air.

“Having a clean record may come in handy for future adventures so fuck yeah from my side,” acknowledged Aomine, an excited glint in his dark blue eyes. “And you, Satsuki?”

“I’ll have a lot more stock options to mess around with like this,” said Momoi with a dreamy look on her face. “And maybe now I can give other jobs a try too~ Maniputing stocks only is starting to get too easy and boring.”

“Just to be clear, a clean criminal record will not change my ways in any form or shape,” confessed Midorima as he adjusted his glasses. “If anything, this will only make it easier for me to carry out the requests. Illegal or not, my job is my job and death will be the only thing to bring about unemployment. A yes, nevertheless, I suppose.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” dismissed Haizaki with a wave of his free hand. “It will be painted in pitch black once again in a matter of months, but yeah, I guess it can come in handy for the time being.”

“Ditto,” acknowledged Nijimura, even though he threw a reproving glare at Haizaki. “It’s a bit too late to change my ways now. But a blank criminal record always comes in handy in the shady section of society. It’s a yes.”

“Yeees…” sluggishly said Murasakibara, his forehead still plastered on the table. “Now… Sleep… Zzzz…”

“Yes, it’s also a yes from my side,” acknowledged Akashi, satisfactorily smirking at the superintendent of the Anti-Crime Police Force and the other ‘rotten dogs’ close by to her. “But I will put this out in the open right from the start. We’ll be cooperating with you, help you out in disbanding the crime syndicate and imprison all of its members. But  _ you _ are the Anti-Crime Police Force. We’re not one of you and we’ll never be. Actually, if anything, we’re all anti  _ you _ . Don’t expect us to do things your way.”

“That’s exactly what we want you to do,” acknowledged Riko, though with an annoyed pang striking the insides of her skull. “Our methods are clearly failing when it comes to this crime syndicate. So we need other methods to deal with them. Maybe yours will be the solution to get this problem out of our hands once and for all.”

“If you’re looking for a ‘fight fire with fire’ kind of solution, I must warn you that it doesn’t work all the time,” pointed out Nijimura, leaning back on his chair once again. “Sometimes adding fire to an already wild one will only make it worse and more devastating.”

“Which is why we’re here,” stepped in Hyuuga, his arms crossed over his chest as he walked closer to the meeting table. “We need to keep an eye on you or the fire really may end up even worse than it already is. You play the role of fire, we’ll play the role of firefighters. Sticking to what we’re used to doing will make life easier for all of us.”

“Yes, I do agree with that,” acknowledged Midorima with a sharp nod of his head. “Which leads me into asking… Will Takao, if that is even his real name in the first place, go back to being my eyes or will I need to look for a new pair first?”

“Yes, his real name is Takao,” said Riko, rolling her eyes around just the slightest. “He can help you out with disbanding the gang, but he obviously will not aid you with your ‘job’ from now on. You can ask him for more details and explanations when he comes back to the headquarters tomorrow.”

“Is it because we’re finally about to get details and explanations on our side of fire fighting?” inquired Kise, an eyebrow slightly arched as he ran his eyes through the police officers on the opposite end of the meeting table. “You’ve been going on and on about this crime syndicate as if we know about it. We’re former gang members. We haven’t washed out hands off of the crime thingy per se, but we do it on solo now. We have no contact with crime syndicates unless they get in our way.”

“It would be boorish to explain the same thing again and again, so we’ll get to that once everybody is present,” sighed Riko, feeling a little bit less tense now that everything had more or less come to an agreement. “Meanwhile you can entertain yourself with a trial mission.”

“Trial mission?” repeated Momoi, tilting her head slightly to the left as she wondered about what exactly did that mean.

“Find Kuroko Tetsuya’s whereabouts,” instructed Riko, laying everything down on the table with that single sentence. “He’s the only former member of the Teikou Group which we couldn’t locate throughout all of these years.”

“...” At hearing those words, Akashi’s eyes readily tightened into thin slits, a small frown creasing the middle of his brows.

“Ah… Oh no… Nope! I’m out!” said Haizaki, suddenly straightening his sitting position on the chair as if he had been struck by a bolt of invisible lightning. “If you want that guy in, then I’m definitely out! Put me in prison instead! I still value my life over my freedom, thank you very much!!”

“Yeah… It’s better if we leave Kurokocchi under whichever rock he chose to hide…” hesitantly added Kise, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck while averting looking in the police officers’ direction.

“I miss Tetsu-kun… But it’s better if we leave it at that…” acknowledged Momoi, a shudder visibly going down her spine.

“Either way it goes, it would be a waste of time to look for him,” said Aomine, a deep frown on his face as he stared down at the table. “If he doesn’t want to be found, then no one will be able to find him, no matter which methods you use. And that’s what he has been doing for years now. Just settle yourselves with the eight of us and leave Tetsu out of it.”

Midorima simply nodded his head at Aomine’s words in utter silence.

“The nine of us might have all grown up in the same orphanage and then Teikou happened and shit,” started Nijimura, a frown also present on his features. “But last time we saw him, it was under quite violent parting words. How was it that he put it…? ‘Next time I see any of you, I’ll slit your throat open’? And he totally meant that. If you want to fight fire with fire in a safe and contained way, I would advise you to exclude Kuroko out of it. He would definitely prioritise killing us rather than the disbanding of the crime syndicate.”

“If he’s that dangerous of an individual, then we’ll just apprehend him, exclude him out of this project and get him locked up in prison until he’s all old and wrinkly,” said Riko, an eyebrow slightly arched at the unexpected reactions she was obtaining out of the former gangsters. “Either way, you’re only giving us more reasons to want to find his location. Even if you haven’t heard from him for years now, you know him and probably have some clues to where he might have go-”

“I know where he is,” interrupted Akashi, a serious expression on his face as he simply stared away into the distance. “I know where Tetsuya is. But it might take us a while to get there.”

“Why? Is he in another country?” asked Riko, getting slightly more restless with the flabbergasted expressions the seven of them threw at Akashi at hearing those words. It seemed that Kuroko’s whereabouts truly were supposed to be unknown to the entire world.

“No, but Tetsuya has been the ultimate hide-and-seek player since a child… even when there’s only one empty room to hide in.”


	4. Info - Trap

“Akashicchiiiii… How long until we get theeeeere…?” asked Kise, his body spread over the backrest of the backseat. “I know you said it would take a while to get to Kurokocchi… But I wasn’t expecting to have to travel all the way to Hokkaido…”

“Actually, how the fuck do you know that Tetsu is currently living in Hokkaido?” also inquired Aomine, sideways glancing at Akashi as he tried to squeeze his large frame between the redhead and the blonde in the backseat of the car. “Not even Satsuki knew he was there and that says a whole fucking lot about Tetsu’s hiding skills. Well… Not that we weren’t aware of them already…”

“I can be just as good at spy work as Tetsuya if I put my mind to it,” shortly answered Akashi, offering a quick shrug with his shoulders as he kept on observing the outside scenery through the window. “It took a while, yes, but money is what makes the world go round. There’s no information money can’t buy and no information that can’t be obtained if you know where to press.”

“Geez… How many people did you torture for that info, Akashicchi?” sighed Kise, momentarily sitting straight on the backseat to be able to take a peek at the redhead.

“I’m a good samaritan, Ryouta,” said Akashi, a knowing smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he threw a pointed look at Kagami and Kiyoshi, who were on the driving and front passenger seats, respectively. “I would never torture anyone, hehehe.”

“We sure hope so!” said Kagami, throwing a glare at Akashi through the rearview mirror. He sighed. “Seriously, what the heck was Riko-san thinking to pull a stunt this… this… ridiculous!! I never knew we were so desperate we would have to resort to criminals to do our job!!”

“You need to admit that things were starting to get a bit too out of control, Kagami,” pointed out Kiyoshi, trying to talk Kagami out of another grumbling session of ‘criminals are supposed to be in prison, not walking around playing police!!’. “Gangs and crime syndicates are too used to the police’s methods. Not to mention, and it hurts to admit it, some of us are quite easy to convince into playing for the enemy team. As Akashi said, money makes the world go round.”

“In our defence, you motherfuckers always use the same methods to try to catch us,” said Aomine, leisurely lifting his arms in the air (accidentally hitting Kise in the head with his elbow) and placing them behind his head. “We have long learned our lesson and started running away from the cat through new sewers, like the big rats we are.”

“Excuse me?” yelped Kise, a scandalised expression on his face as he gawked at Aomine. “If you want to be a rat, go right ahead, Aominecchi, but don’t include me in it. Don’t you agree, Akashicchi?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, lady killer,” dismissed Aomine, rolling his eyes around in annoyance.

“Stop the car,” said Akashi out of the blue, his heterochromatic eyes once again stuck in the outside scenery. When all he got was another glance through the rearview mirror from Kagami, he also turned around in his direction and placed on his hands on top his shoulder, ever so _delicately_ squeezing it. “I said stop the car. Now.”

“Owowowow! Okay, okay, I get it!!” yelped Kagami, quickly using the lights to signalise he was changing lanes and then parking the car next to the sidewalk. “You definitely have tortured others befo- Hey, don’t just get out of the car and ignore me!!”

With half amusement, half curiosity, both Aomine and Kise inched closer to the redhead’s empty seat and followed Akashi with their eyes. And just like they were expecting, though maybe not for such reasons, Akashi’s actions only made their friendly driver even angrier upon his return.

“Are you for real!?” roared Kagami as soon as Akashi stepped inside of the car once again, a small plastic bag with piping hot steamed buns on his hand. “Did you seriously just order me to stop in the middle of the road just so you could get a midafternoon snack!? I’ll kill you!!!!”

“...” Akashi completely ignored Kagami’s furious ranting and removed the paper parcel from inside of the plastic bag. After unravelling the delicious smelly meat bun, he took a small piece of paper from underneath it and passed it over to Aomine, who was already drooling at the smell alone. He snorted. “Tetsuya passed by here two days ago. I take it he’s probably home right now.”

“You sneaky bastard…” grumbled Aomine, his mouth stuffed with half of the meat bun. “Just how many… people do you have working for you here?”

“The bare minimum to not arouse Tetsuya’s suspicions,” said Akashi, crumpling the small piece of paper and putting it in his pants’ pocket. “Though that’s not saying much. I’m quite sure that Tetsuya knows that I know where he is.”

“How?” asked Kise, once again pushing his body forward so he could peek at Akashi. A small pout appeared in his handsome features when he saw that there would be no meat bun for him.

“I paid him a visit last year,” confessed Akashi, his eyes cautiously surveying the outside now that the small village road was starting to become a wild forest one. “But or he wasn’t home at the time or he was very well hidden in an empty room. So he probably knows that I know of that hideout of his.”

“D-Do you have a death wish!?” yelped Aomine, nearly spitting the last bit of meat bun all over Akashi’s body.

“Akashicchi, when did you go from sadist to suicidal masochist!?” also yelped Kise, pushing his back against the passenger door to put more distance between himself and the trashing Aomine.

“I only wanted to know why,” simply said Akashi, his gaze lowering just a fraction, only for him to straighten his body soon after. He pointed to the forest, towards a small brick hut hidden in the middle of large Sakhalin fir trees. “Stop here and tell the other car to do the same. It’s over there.”

This time, Kagami silently did as instructed and parked the car as close to the trees as possible but at a considerable distance from the brick hut - both to not inconvenience other driver and to keep the surprise factor on their side. Soon enough, another car parked behind theirs.

“I honestly thought that if Tetsuya was going to hide in the middle of a fucking forest, he would go for Aokigahara…” grumbled Haizaki as he got out of the second car. “That would definitely complete the ghost assassin mood…”

“Just admit that you’re happy he didn’t,” sighed Nijimura, giving a small slap to the back of Haizaki’s head. “Though I must confess… I never knew you were such a scaredy-cat, Haizaki. Ahahaha!”

“We’re talking about Tetsuya here, okay!?” roared Haizaki, a deep frown on his face as he stomped his foot in anger. “I bet even Daiki is about to crap his pants!!”

“Is this Kuroko guy really that scary and strong?” inquired Kasamatsu as he got outside of the driver seat. “From his appearance only, I would never peg him as a former gang member, much less someone who can make Mister Ganguro over there shit himself.”

“Hey! My tan is natural, not a fashion choice!” roared Aomine, a vein popping out on his forehead. “And it’s not like Tetsu is scary or overly strong! Okay, yeah, now he’s a bit too creepy for our tastes and he swore to kill us and all, but he’s an awesome guy! He’s an adorable expressionless cutie who would drink vanilla milkshakes 24/7 if he could!”

“An adorable expressionless cutie?” repeated Kise, an eyebrow slightly arched on his brows. He lightly shook his head and then pointed at Aomine in an accusing manner. “That’s an understatement!! There’s nothing in this world that’s cuter or more adorable than Kurokocchi! He’s the god of cuteness!”

“Those two have always had a weird Kuroko-obsession since children so don’t mind them,” sighed Midorima as he adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose to cover the disgusted look he was throwing at the two males. “Just be glad that Momoi isn’t here to join the fangirling squad…”

“You used to go out of your way to give him his lucky item every day, what are you saying now, Midorima?” pointed out Nijimura, a knowing smirk on his lips as he sideways glanced at Midorima. He shrugged. “And the rest of us weren’t much different. Haizaki here smuggled sweets and ice creams from the convenience store to bring them to Kuroko.”

“Hey!!” yelped Haizaki, throwing a kick at Nijimura’s shin.

“I babied him to the point of getting the nickname of ‘Teikou’s Babysitter’,” continued Nijimura, not even flinching at the kick. “I lost count of how many times Murasakibara tried to eat him because he ‘looked so sweet and fluffy and delicious’. Akashi was pretty much a stalker-slash-controlling-bitch whenever Kuroko was concerned. Still is, it seems. We all have a weird Kuroko-obsession.”

“I honestly can’t blame him from running away after threatening to kill you all…” sighed Hyuuga, shaking his head in disapproval.

“You don’t believe us?” asked Aomine, tightening his gaze to thin slits as he observed the four police officers. He turned around and darted towards the brick hut. “I’ll prove to you how cute he is then!”

“Daiki, wait…!” warned Akashi, taking a step forward after him. But he was far too late. Aomine quickly arrived at the front door and slammed it open, forcing Akashi to do nothing more than sigh in exasperation.

“Eh? This is not a house!” yelled Aomine, his head stuck inside of the hut. He disappeared inside of it for a few seconds and then popped out once again, his head slightly tilted in confusion. “There’s just some tools and a bike here.”

“I don’t remember saying that hut is Tetsuya’s house, now did I?” nearly groaned Akashi, rolling his eyes around just a fraction. He walked over to the hut and stopped by the open front door, crouching down next to it afterwards. “It’s Tetsuya’s property nevertheless. And thanks to your rash actions, Daiki, he now knows someone has stepped inside of his territory.”

“Huh?” interjected Aomine, tilting his head even further while looking down at the place where the redhead had crouched down. Seeing the small sensor stuck inside of the wooden frame flickering red light on and off made a shudder go down his spine. “Oh shit…”

“If we want to get out of here alive and acquire Kuroko’s cooperation, we need to hurry up,” said Midorima, also taking a peek at the safety device placed on the door. “We may be able to catch him before he finishes sharpening his knives and comes out to slaughter us. Is his house far from here?”

“No, we just have to follow the small stream that runs behind this hut,” explained Akashi, getting up once again as he carefully surveyed the inside of the brick hut. “His house is deeper inside the forest. It should take us 10 minutes to get there if we rush.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get going!” instructed Kasamatsu, walking around the hut and readily finding the mentioned small stream. “We don’t need to worry about bear traps or something like that, right?”

“Last time I was here, there weren’t any,” said Akashi, following right behind Kasamatsu together with all the others. “But Tetsuya is more unpredictable than the weather. He might have made some changes since last year.”

“He definitely put traps here… I can smell it…” mumbled Haizaki, carefully looking down at the ground to see where he put his feet. “Ugh… I should have stayed in Tokyo with Atsushi and Satsuki…”

“It’s a bit too late to complain now,” sighed Hyuuga, also carefully following after them to not trip on loose rocks or twigs and maybe break a leg or drown on the small stream after hitting his head.

“Hey, what’s the real reason why Kuroko wants to kill all of you?” asked Kagami, glancing first at Akashi, who walked in front of him, and then over his shoulder to peek at the remaining former gang members. “The way you spoke of him, yeah, you sound like really annoying people to be with. It was a bit overkill but it was your way of showing you care for him, right? But overkill or not, it wasn’t something that could lead him to want to kill you. Murasakibara’s and Akashi’s a different story, though…”

“We… killed someone important to him…” answered Midorima after long minutes of walking in nearly total silence.

“Are you idiots? Why would you do something like that?” groaned Kasamatsu, seriously feeling like giving a kick or punch to each one of them for their stupid mob mentality.

“Because he belonged to the side that tried to do the same thing to us,” shortly said Akashi, his heterochromatic eyes blazing with rage.

“There really seems to be more to this story than at first glan- Aomine, careful!!” started saying Kiyoshi with a quite leisure voice but he was forced to interrupt himself and warn one of theirs of the incoming danger.

“Shit…!!” cursed Aomine, crouching down right when an axe came flying in his direction and was carved deep into the trunk of the tree behind him. Cold sweat immediately covered all of his body. “Di… Did you just throw a fucking axe at my fucking face, Tetsu!?”

“I warned you,” said Kuroko Tetsuya, his voice almost a murmur in between the wind rustling through the leaves. The mixture of his pale, expressionless demeanour and his ice-cold teal eyes did make him resemble a ghostly figure that had just escaped a horror movie. “I told you that the next time I see any of you, I would crack your skull in half, didn’t I?”

“I thought it had been slit our throat open…” mumbled Nijimura, taking a step back so he could grab Haizaki’s shirt before he darted running in screams out of the forest.

“Any of the two is fine by me. Do tell me how you’d prefer your death,” acknowledged Kuroko, stepping inside of the small stream to reach the same side as the hunting targets. “I’ll go for the method you hate the most.”

_ The god of cuteness…? All we see is a blood-thirsty demon!!! _


	5. Attack - Negotiation

"L-Let's all calm down now, yes?" hesitantly tried Kise, slowly taking a few steps forward in the bluenette's direction as Kuroko grew closer and closer to them. "These guys here are from the Anti-Crime Police Force and they would love to have a chat with you, which includes a quite yummy reward!" 

Following Kise's strategy, the four police officers readily went for their badges and pulled them out, putting them in clear view to everyone. 

"See?" said Kise, pointing over his shoulder at the four policemen. "So let's all sit down and have a calm and peaceful conversation like the grown-ups that we all are. Okay, Kurokocchi?" 

"I don't want to talk," answered Kuroko, motioning his closed fist forward and powerfully gut-punching the blonde's stomach area. When Kise doubled forward in pain, he lunged his elbow sideways and hit him square in the face, which caused the blonde to topple down onto the floor, groaning and quivering. "Who wants to be the next one?" 

"I knew it, he's going to kill us all!!" squealed Haizaki, turning around on his heels to get the hell out of there, but Nijimura’s grasp on his clothes didn’t allow him to go very far. “Fuck you, Nijimura!! If you wanna die, do it on your own! Don’t drag me down together with you!!!”

“If you don’t stop right this moment, we’ll arrest you with charges of obstruction of justice,” warned Kasamatsu, a deep frown creasing his features as he glared at the bluenette. “These six are currently aiding us with a particularly difficult case. We need them alive and kicking.”

“Why would the needs of corrupt police officers be above my wants?” inquired Kuroko, putting his hand inside his pants’ pocket and taking from there a small square object. With a quick movement of his fingers, he lighted the metallic zippo lighter and threw it sideways. “Just burn down together with all of them.”

The moment the lighter touched the small stream, the water burst into flames, which readily climbed the stream in both directions with a furious speed. The small scale explosion momentarily blinded all of them, who tried their best to protect their eyes from the brightness by covering them with their hands or arms.

“Shit, he’s going to burn down this whole place!” cursed Kagami, taking his handgun from its holster and looking around his surroundings. “Wait, where the fuck did Kuroko go!?”

“Tetsuya is most likely spilling gasoline or another inflammable agent in the stream up ahead,” said Akashi, calmly analyzing the situation they were under while he searched around their surrounding with his eyes. Kuroko’s disappearance after a flashy distraction was the expected, but no less worrisome. “So this is the reason why the area surrounding the stream was so clean and easily accessible. He cleaned it so that the entire forest wouldn’t catch fire too.”

“Yeah, okay, that’s great for the birds and squirrels, but what about us!?” roared Aomine, throwing a quick glare at Akashi due to how calm he seemed to be. “Kise is already out cold, five of us left. Well, nine of us left, if Tetsu’s serious about adding these four to the list.”

“Why are you panicking so much, Daiki?” asked Akashi in the form of a tired sigh. “If we stay together, Tetsuya’s attacks will be easier to counter. They’ll be even easier to fend off once we get back to the main road and to our vehicles. You said it yourself, it’s not like Tetsuya is overly strong. Not to mention, you’re not even his number one priority in his hit list. I am.”

“That calm and calculating side of yours is always so aggravating,” said Kuroko, though only his voice showed signs of him still being around. His body was well hidden somewhere in the middle of the forest. “How far should I push it to see you panic as much as Aomine-kun?”

“You should know that I like to meet with what is expected out of me, Tetsuya,” pointed out Akashi, giving a small shrug after throwing a quick glance at the others. “Why don’t you try to do the same for once in your life and come out in the open? Things will be easier for you if you just talk with these nice, friendly police officers. Ryouta wasn’t lying when he said they had a very good reward for you if you cooperate with their plan.”

“A good reward?” repeated Kuroko, his voice nearly monotone. “I can easily guess what they would offer. A reduction of my sentence. The option of paying some of the years through community service or by walking around with an electronic tag. Maybe a clean criminal record, since I’m seeing nearly all of you with them? If they so easily fall for your manipulations, Akashi-kun, they’re not worthy of my time.”

“I like this guy,” acknowledged Kagami, giving a couple of small nods with his head. “If he wasn’t a former gang member or a psycho killer, I think we’d get along pretty well.”

“Don’t listen to anything he says, Taiga…” whispered Akashi in warning, a small frown also starting to show on his brows.

“Yes, maybe we really would be able to get along,” also acknowledged Kuroko’s voice. “If you’re willing to negotiate with Akashi-kun, why don’t you negotiate with me too? Believe me when I say that I’m extremely cheap compared to the price tag they give to themselves.”

“Another smartass, I see…” groaned Hyuuga, rolling his eyes around at the unexpected proposal. “What kind of terms would you have?”

“I don’t want a clean criminal record, I don’t even want a reduction of my sentence. For all I care, you can even sentence me to death on the day after your difficult case is solved,” said Kuroko, his voice just as empty as the expression he had shown upon his arrival. “All I want is to kill the eight of them. You successfully solve your case and get the bonus of less nine criminals crawling in this country. What are your thoughts on that?”

“I’ll be honest, in terms of my consciousness, I like this option better than the one Riko-san has chosen,” whispered Kagami to his fellow police officers. He then cleared his throat and added, loud enough for everybody to hear. “But the problem with your negotiation options is that we’d be aiding a criminal committing murder. Like hell we’re gonna agree with that!”

“You already did,” announced Kuroko, appearing out of nowhere right behind Akashi. He grabbed the redhead by the neck and pushed him against a nearby tree, a hunting knife popping out on his free hand as if by magic. “One officially down…”

“Seriously, if you don’t stop right this moment, we’ll arrest you for attempted murder and your murder plan goes downhill forever!” said Kagami, grabbing Kuroko’s arm right before the tip of the hunting knife was carved deep in Akashi’s red eyeball. “Worst case scenario, we’ll shot you down right here. Still not up for a nice, peaceful conversation with us?”

“Actually, Kagami, I’m also on board with Kuroko’s plan,” confessed Kiyoshi out of the blue. He took his handgun from the holster by his hips and pointed it at Nijimura and Haizaki, who were the ones closest to him. “Let’s kill the six of them and keep Kuroko. From what I’ve seen, out of the nine of them, Kuroko is the one that suits Riko’s plans the best. You just saw for yourself his smart and accurate strategies when it comes to dealing with criminals and police officers alike. He’s the trump card Riko was looking for. Having nine of them could become far too dangerous in the future. They’re criminals, they can join the enemy side any time they feel like. If they haven’t already, that is. Cutting them down to only one and then sentencing that remaining one is a much better plan than the one we currently have.”

“You can’t be serious there, Kiyoshi!” yelped Hyuuga, his eyes wide open in shock.

“But I am,” acknowledged Kiyoshi, using his thumb to remove the safety and be able to pull the trigger at any more.

“Is that so?” said Kuroko, his voice nothing more than a whisper. He released the hunting knife, which readily fell blade first on the ground and got vertically stabbed in it, and yanked his arm free from Kagami’s grip. “Please go right ahead. But don’t add me as a future aid for your case. They’re mine to kill.”

After having said that, Kuroko swiftly turned around and started walking away from that location, penetrating deep into the forest while following the small stream.

“I can now understand what you meant, ahahaha!” started laughing Kiyoshi out of the blue, putting the safety of his handgun on once again and then placing the weapon in his holster. “That was quite cute indeed. Oh, I’m sorry for pointing my gun at you two, Nijimura, Haizaki.”

“HUH!?” interjected all of them at the same time, with the exception of Akashi, who remained silently staring at Kuroko’s retreating back.

“Kuroko’s an all-or-nothing person,” said Kiyoshi, still lightly chuckling. “He wants to kill his former gang pals, but he wants to do it in person. If anyone offers to do it for him, then he’ll decline that proposal. So or he cooperates with us at the expense of killing the eight of you, or we get the eight of you and none of Kuroko’s cooperation.”

“Right. Then why are we still here?” asked Haizaki, furiously glaring at Kiyoshi due to his earlier stunt. “Let’s get the hell out of here before Tetsuya decides to return!”

“But what if there’s a way to keep both?” announced Kiyoshi, a satisfied smile popping out on his lips as he placed his hands on his hips.

“There’s no such way, let’s leave,” insisted Haizaki, giving a tug at Nijimura’s arm to force everyone to follow him out of the forest.

“Let’s agree with Kuroko’s proposal,” explained Kiyoshi, quickly elaborating his plan before any of the six - well, five due to Kise’s unconscious self - former gang members could begin to complain and moan about it. “We agree to let Kuroko kill the eight of you only _ after _ the case is solved. With the severity and difficulty degree of this case, there’s no way it’s going to be solved in a matter of days, even weeks. It’ll probably take us months to get every single member of the crime syndicate arrested. So you have months to fix the bad blood you caused in him when you killed that friend of his. You all grew up in the same orphanage and used to be best buddies, right? Fix your relationship with him before we finish solving this case and convince him into wanting the same whited-out-criminal-background reward as you.”

“Argh…!” groaned Hyuuga, shaking his head in dissatisfaction. “Why are you such a softie with other people, even the bad guys…?”

“But isn’t it too pitiful?” pointed out Kiyoshi, looking over in the same direction that Kuroko had once again disappeared into. “Behind all of that anger, all I could see and hear was sadness. It’s as if the only thing keeping him going is the desire to kill the eight of them.”

_ But if that’s really the case, then why did he simply disappear and didn’t go after them one by one..? _


	6. Talk - Approval

“Kurokocchi is as charming and adorable as ever~” sighed Kise, a dreamy expression on his face as he stared at the bluenette’s actual small residence from a safe distance. His face would also still be dream-model-grade if it wasn’t starting to swollen due to the earlier elbow strike. “Ahh~ I really missed him<3”

“Yeah, he sounds fine,” acknowledged Nijimura, returning his focus to the police group after having given a quick inspection to the wounded blonde together with Midorima.

“If that’s fine, I don’t wanna know what’s wrong…” mumbled Kasamatsu, sideways glancing at Kise as if he was an abnormal foreign creature. A small shudder crawled up his spine upon remembering that Kuroko used to live under the same roof as him during his childhood.  _ No wonder he turned out like this… _

“So? What should we do now?” asked Haizaki, a sour look on his features as he remained with his back leaned against a tree - the best shield he could find in the whole area. “Anyone who goes ring on his bell will probably get a new hole in their body. Are there any volunteers around? I sure ain’t one.”

“We were best buddies back in the days, he should be willing to listen to me,” announced Aomine, puffing his chest out in pride. “I’ll go and try to reason with him. At least to the point of getting him out of his house.”

_ Following that thought process, Akashi should be the one going, _ pointed out both Midorima and Nijimura in the back of their minds, the former adjusting the glasses on the bridge of his nose and the latter releasing a tired sigh.

Both former gangsters and Anti-Crime Police Force members silently observed as Aomine crossed the dirt road and reached the wooden house’s front door. He strongly knocked on the door with his fist and roared ‘Hey, Tetsu! Open up! We need to talk!’ at the top of his lungs. When he started knocking on the door once again, the strong impacts were accompanied by the sound of a handgun firing consecutively. Aomine awkwardly rushed out of near the door to find cover.

“Okay, maybe it would be safer if we go talk with him,” sighed Hyuuga, inwardly cringing at the pitiful show he had just witnessed. When Aomine returned to near the group, he gave a quick jerk with his chin to call over his fellow police officers. “I just hope he doesn’t greet us at gunpoint too…”

“If he knows what’s good for him, he won’t,” scoffed Kasamatsu, cracking his knuckles as he advanced, a knowing smirk on his lips.

“Unlike Kise, I think the others would step in if you attack Kuroko with a trash can,” pointed out Kiyoshi, a hearty laugh exiting his throat afterwards as he walked beside Hyuuga towards the wooden house. “Overall, we’re at a disadvantage. We should be careful with how we approach Kuroko because an attack could come from two different ends.”

“Glad to know I’m not the only one who still doesn’t trust any of them,” snorted Kagami, lightly adjusting the handgun strapped on his hip, underneath his civilian jacket. As they approached the front door, now filled with bullet holes from top to bottom, his gaze tightened. “Do you think it’s worth it, though? He might have the skills Riko-san wants but he’s also going to destabilise all eight of them. Even if we try to compromise with him, he might still go back on his word and kill some of them without any warning.”

“Kagami, believe me, if Kuroko really wanted them dead, he would have done it by now,” said Kiyoshi, his voice slightly more hushed so the individual inside of the house wouldn’t hear their current conversation. “Why would someone wait for the people they want to kill to come to pay them a visit? Usually, they would chase after them, no matter where they went.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” acknowledged Kasamatsu with a small nod of his head and a deep frown on his brows. “But in their case, Kuroko was the one doing the hiding after threatening to kill them all. Doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

“Maybe they’re keeping some bits and pieces of that story a secret from us,” added Hyuuga, signalising the front door with his head. Both Kasamatsu and Kagami quickly ran to the other side of the door, keeping themselves away from the door’s range. After another nod of his head, he slowly motioned his hand sideways and knocked on the door. “Kuroko, could we have a word with you? It’s just the four of us from the Anti-Crime Police Force. I’m Hyuuga Junpei, a Chief Inspector. I have with me Kiyoshi Teppei and Kasamatsu Yukio, both the same as me. Kagami Taiga here is still a Sergeant. We came here with the other guys because Aida Riko, our Commissioner, has been tasked with wiping out the current mob mess that Tokyo is. She wants to use all of the main former members of Teikou as an aid to solve this case. You included, obviously. As you almost immediately deducted, the reward for your cooperation is a blank criminal record. I know you’re not interested in that reward but, as police officers, you need to understand that we can’t help you commit murder under our protection. Could we all talk, just the five of us?”

Despite the long monologue, Hyuuga didn’t obtain any answer from the wooden house’s occupant. An eyebrow lightly arched, he exchanged a quick glance with Kasamatsu, who was also equally confused with the sudden dead silence coming from inside of the house.

“We’re coming in, Kuroko,” announced Kasamatsu, slowly turning the doorknob and pushing the door open, though his body remained hidden behind the wall. As there were no further gunshots, the four of them departed their hiding spots and motioned inside of the house. “Thanks for having u- What the fuck…?”

“What the hell is going on!?” interjected Kagami, his red eyes nearly popping out of their sockets as he looked around the completely empty one-room house, no windows except for four small ones on the front side, almost near the rooftop.

_ “I paid him a visit last year. But or he wasn’t home at the time or he was very well hidden in an empty room.” _

“Is this what Akashi meant back in the car?” mumbled Kiyoshi, more to himself than to the others as he also looked around the spacious wooden house’s insides - spacious more so because they were completely bare of furniture or personal belongings. Anyone would have thought that it was a recently abandoned house.

“But he’s got to be inside!” said Hyuuga, equally confused about the bluenette’s sudden disappearance. “There’s no back door and no windows he could use to run away. As far as I can see, there’s no underground passage. And no one came outside since those earlier gunshots against Aomine!”

“I already told you I won’t join you.”

“...!” At hearing Kuroko’s voice, seemingly out of nowhere, they started looking around the house once again. But it was to no avail. It was as if they were having a conversation with a ghost invisible to everyone. A ghost that could use firearms.

_ I am so fucking glad that he chose to hide in Hokkaido rather than Aokigahara Forest…, _ inwardly whimpered Kagami, a shudder running down his spine as he unconsciously took a step back. If there was something he couldn’t deal with, it was dogs and horror stories…

“Why?” asked Kiyoshi, still trying to figure out where exactly the bluenette was hiding. “If I was a known former gang member, nothing would make my life easier after washing my hands off of crime than a cleaned criminal record. You see, out of the nine of you, you were the only one who completely gave up on the crime world and disappeared from the map. One way or another, the other eight main members of Teikou kept on doing their sketchy activities. Out of all nine of you… Kuroko, you’re the one who has more reasons to want to accept Riko’s proposal.”

“My stained criminal record hasn’t bothered me much throughout these last few years. Why change it now?”

“Yeah, living alone in the middle of a freaking forest the way you are, you surely need a clean criminal record,” sarcastically remarked Kasamatsu, rolling his eyes around at the bluenette’s stubbornness. “Do you hunt rabbits and collect berries and mushrooms for dinner too?”

“...”

“All we’re trying to say is that you have lots to gain from cooperating with us,” intervened Hyuuga after having loudly cleared his throat. “And it’s not even a permanent contract. Once things have been settled in Tokyo and all gang members have been apprehended, you’re free to go wherever you want. If you want to return to your hiding location here in Hokkaido, sure, go right ahead. If you still want to kill all eight of them… Well, there’s little we can do about that once your side of the deal has been terminated…”

“So, all in all, you’re using them as a bait to earn my cooperation. Typical police strategy…”

“Yeah, that’s right!” barked Kagami, a vein popping out on his forehead out of anger. “Riko used Akashi’s manipulation as an excuse to manipulate the eight of them into cooperating with us and now we’re trying to manipulate you into cooperating with us by using the eight of them! Happy now?”

_ Bakagami…! _ , groaned the three of them in the back of their heads, Hyuuga going as far as to facepalm himself.

“But what’s the harm of it?” continued Kagami, a deep frown creasing his features. “We want to successfully solve our case. The eight of them want their criminal record to be pure white again, for whatever reasons they may have. You want to kill the eight of them. If we cooperate, all sides may be able to get what they want. But you sure won’t be able to get anything if you continue hiding like a fucking scaredy-cat! For someone who’s always barking ‘I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you’, you sure do a terrible job at acting upon your words! Promises really are light-weight when coming out of a mobster’s tongue, aren’t they? Even if they involve revenge for a friend!”

_ Bam! _ There was a sudden impact on the wall opposite the open door. Then, without any further warning, a portion of the wood planks feel noisily on the wooden floor, lifting a small cloud of dust. A small bluenette appeared inside of the hole in the fake wall between the entrance division and the inner division hidden along the side and back walls of the house.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t butt in in matters that are nothing of your concern,” warned Kuroko, a small glare on his eyes as he stared straight to the four flabbergasted police officers. “None of you are characters of that time. What gives you the right to judge my actions or lack of them?”

“O-Okay, Kagami’s words might have been a bit harsh but he’s not the brightest of guys so he cannot read the mood,” hesitantly acknowledged Hyuuga, his eyes still stuck to the insides of the hidden division of the house. Both that house and Kuroko seemed even scarier now… “But he does have a point in what he said. Wouldn’t you prefer to solve your disagreement with them rather than spend the rest of your life stressing over it? Living in total isolation seems harder than living with a stained criminal record in a large city, I’ll be honest.”

“I don’t know what the eight of them told you about me and of the time we used to work together, but unlike them, I’m not welcoming of the prospect of having to coexist with them, let alone cooperate to solve your case, which, I must remind you, is nothing of my concern since I don’t even live in Tokyo anymore,” said Kuroko, walking out of the hidden division and approaching the four police officers. His teal eyes never left the small group as he steadily grew closer to their location. “Whatever you have to offer, it’s worthless to me. I’m more content with isolation than having to deal with them a second time. But because of your selfish acts, my hideout is no longer a hideout. All the time, effort and money I put forward in leaving that life have now been for nothing because of the Anti-Crime Police Force. All because you can’t do your work well enough and need to drag civilians that have washed their hands off of the crime world back to it.”

_ Ugh, I want to say something back but he’s dead right on what he’s saying…, _ groaned Kasamatsu in the back of his mind, whole-heartedly wishing he could stop Kuroko’s accusations with a well-placed comeback but not finding any in the least.

“You’re asking me to temporarily set aside my ongoing strife with them just because we working together is beneficial to you?”, asked Kuroko, even though he sought no answer to that question. “Does the police now walk around the streets forcing civilians to work for them, to do their job for them, in exchange for a reward? That sounds more like the mob than a virtuous judicial system.”

“...!!”

“Very well. I’ll help you,” suddenly acknowledged Kuroko, stopping in front of the silent police group. “But I don’t want any of your rewards. I want nothing out of you. If I did, it would be the same as returning to what I’ve been trying to escape from. I just want you to leave me alone once your case is completed. Just pretend that Kuroko Tetsuya is dead.”

After having declared such, Kuroko turned around on his heels and returned to the hidden division, aiming to pack his things. That house was now completely obsolete to him, another place he would never return to. A place he would never think of again.

_ I wish I could also do the same thing with all of the faraway past... _


	7. Egress - Advice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I inform on other fics already, there'll be one update per month for every fic from now on. More info in the links below.  
I hope you enjoy this month's release for Anti-U~

Slowly, Kuroko went through his things and packed them inside of a backpack. He was only picking up the essential, he would have another opportunity to buy the rest once he got this unexpected last mission solved.

“Haa…” He released a small sigh. He walked over to his bed and sit down there, his teal eyes stuck to the nightstand and the used and abused notebook on top of it. He lightly traced with the pads of his fingers the two large words written in the cover in a notorious red colouring. A warning sign, if one will.

“Are you ready to go, Kuroko?” asked Kagami, crouching down in front of the hole the bluenette had created on the fake wall. “We can leave whenever you’re done here.”

Kuroko gave a silent small nod with his head and stuffed the notebook inside of the backpack, closing the zipper and putting one of the straps over his shoulder right afterwards. He pushed his body from the bed and walked towards the entrance division of his former quarters.

“Do you want us to do anything about this property while you’re away?” asked Kasamatsu, his arms crossed over his chest as he waited for the bluenette together with Kagami. “We can request the police box from the nearby town to make some rounds in this area now and then to assure no one takes your things.”

“That’s not needed,” said Kuroko, passing by the two police officers and walking outside without as much as glancing back a single time. “The rabbits I didn’t eat for dinner can inherit everything inside of this house.”

“Ahaha. Shut up, smartass,” grumbled Kasamatsu, faking a sarcastic laugh at Kuroko’s stabbing words. He sure didn’t need any weapons to strike hard on others. He picked up his pace and caught up with the bluenette together with Kagami as they walked together the rest of the group. “It’s already getting late and both Kagami and Hyuuga are tired from all of the nearly non-stop driving. We’ll be spending the night in a nearby hotel and then depart for Tokyo in the morning. Is that okay with you too?”

“For as long as I don’t have to share the same room as any of them, that’s okay by me,” acknowledged Kuroko with a small nod of his head.

“I knew you’d say that,” sighed Kasamatsu, feeling that a headache was starting to form deep inside of his skull. “You can just share a small room with Kagami, then. We’ll divide the rest of the gang between me, Hyuuga and Kiyoshi.”

“Eh!? Why me!?” yelped Kagami, his eyes wide open in shock at hearing that sudden declaration without being consulted first.

“Didn’t you say earlier that you’d probably get along with Kuroko?” pointed out Kasamatsu, an evil grin on his lips as he sideways glanced at the redhead. “Now’s a good chance to get to know one another better. Nothing like spending some time sharing the same roof to make new buddies. Even if just for a night. Also, who’s the senpai here? Huh?”

“Ugh, fine…” grumbled Kagami under his breath, a dissatisfied expression on his face.

“Ready to go?” asked Kiyoshi, a happy, relaxed smile that greatly contrasted with the heavy and tense atmosphere all around that group. “Hyuuga already contacted the hotel saying eleven guests would arrive in half an hour or so.”

“Yeah, we can go,” acknowledged Kasamatsu, releasing a soft sigh afterwards. “Though we have to try to figure out how we’ll fit eleven in two cars…”

“Tetsu…” called Aomine, taking a step forward, one of his hands outstretched in the bluenette’s direction.

Kuroko passed by the group, decidedly walking towards the parked cars and his small hut without sparing any of them a single glance. They might as well not have been there altogether, just staring at Kuroko as if something otherworldly had made its presence announced.

“Yeah, thought as much…” mumbled Aomine, a strained expression on his features as he withdrew his hand back to himself and lightly massaged the back of his neck with it.

Kuroko made a direct beeline to the hut by the roadside, aware that the rest of the group was almost right behind him on their way to the two parked cars. He turned off the sensor by the door and pulled his motorcycle outside of the hut, leaving it waiting for him as he dived back inside of the building to get the helmet.

“Kagami-kun,” called Kuroko, throwing a helmet in his direction with a perfect aim to its target. Although it had been a very sudden motion, Kagami easily caught the round object with one of his hands only, redirecting his inquiring gaze to the bluenette afterwards. He also put and adjusted a helmet on his head. “I don’t know which hotel it is.”

“Heh! Problem solved, Kasamatsu-san,” snorted Kagami, putting the helmet on and walking towards the motorcycle and Kuroko. “Kiyoshi-senpai, I’ll leave the driving in your hands.”

“Have a safe drive,” acknowledged Kiyoshi, a grin on his face as he waved at both the redhead and the bluenette.

“The hotel is at the city next to this one, right at the entrance, according to Kiyoshi-senpai,” explained Kagami as he closed the buckle below his chin. “It’s hard to mi- Wait, I’m supposed to ride behind you!?”

“Now that I know where it is, feel free to go back to the cars,” pointed out Kuroko as he sat down on the seat and wrapped his palms on the handgrips. He switched his gaze back to the police officer, an expressionless demeanour on his features. “What will you do?”

“Ugh… Fine…” acknowledged Kagami, grudgingly sitting behind Kuroko on the motorcycle and taking a hold of the sides of the seat as safety. It would probably be bad if he were to grab at the small bluenette, for more than one reason.

A minute later, the loud rumble of the motorcycle’s engine was slowly diminishing in intensity as it gained a larger and larger distance from the hut, the parked cars and the remaining group.

“Akashi,” called Nijimura, placing a hand on top of his shoulder and giving it a light squeeze. “Now is not the right time to revert back to your controlling bitch persona, okay? Try to hold your jealousy and possessiveness in just until we get back to Tokyo and he signs his side of the deal with the lady from yesterday. You might scare Kuroko away for good if you go back to acting like you used to when he so clearly hates breathing the same air as us.”

“I know,” said Akashi, walking away from Nijimura and readily stepping inside of the same car he had ridden in earlier. He closed the door with enough strength to scare away a group of birds from the nearby trees.

_ Oh boy… They might as well start preparing for future funerals… for us and probably for Kagami. _


	8. Coffee Break - In the Dark

“Haa! They’re so tiring to be around of!” grumbled Hyuuga, opening a can of hot coffee and readily downing a few long gulps of the beverage. He let his body drop to the bench next to the vending machine and settled the warm can in between his hands, trying to warm himself up a little bit while experiencing the cold nights of the northernmost island of Japan for the first time. “They argue and bicker with one another. They constantly complain about nearly everything. They’re perpetually trying to outwit us. A strategy to solve our current case? They’re a total pain in the ass, that’s what they are!”

“Now, now, Hyuuga. They just have very… particular personalities that you’re not used to dealing with,” said Kiyoshi, putting a couple of coins in the vending machine and clicking in one of the buttons. When a loud metallic clattering was heard, he lightly leaned his upper body down and took a can of hot chocolate from behind the flap covering the opening. “With time, you’ll get used to them. Then they won’t seem that big of a problem.”

“Is there really a way for law-abiding police officers to get along with criminals?” scoffed Hyuuga, a deep frown on his brows as he stared at the coffee can. “I can understand what Riko is trying to do. I can also understand that we can’t just randomly force them to work for us without receiving any payment. That would be tyranny and abuse of power. We can’t even use their criminal background against them. We know they committed those crimes, but we don’t have enough proofs to take them to court. Otherwise, they would have been arrested by now. But still… having to cooperate with them because we’re unable to solve our case leaves a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth.”

“I know what you’re trying to get at but… like Riko usually says, crime is a very complicated matter to speak of and analyse,” acknowledged Kiyoshi with a small sigh. He opened the hot chocolate can and gulped down a little bit of the lukewarm beverage. “It’s very rare to bump into a case where criminals commit their crime just because they feel like it. No human being is inherently good or bad. Child abuse and neglect, wrong education, a bad family background, lack of life choices, extreme life circumstances… there are so many reasons that can lead a person into a life of crime. All of them fall under that category. If they had a different childhood, if someone had helped them in their biggest moments of despair, they might have grown up to a different present. They struggled, went through several hardships and, ultimately, what gave them the helping hand they sought was crime. Rather than accuse and blame them for it, I feel we should point our fingers at the way society has been built. Evil succeeded at doing what good failed at.”

“Yeah, I know…” sighed Hyuuga, finishing the rest of his coffee with a single gulp. “I’m going to say something that you probably would. Receiving a second chance may turn out to be good for them. A large percentage of criminals get arrested a second, third time after being released. I mean, they have no life outside of prison, no job to sustain themselves, maybe a bad relationship with their family or no family at all, and now a criminal record that will make a regular life a very hard task to accomplish. Prison only removes criminals from the streets, it doesn’t solve their problems or turns them into a better person. Since they’re so skilled at being the bad guys, getting a taste of doing some good might be a refreshing experience. It might help them fit in better in our society and turn a new leaf permanently.”

“Yes, that’s something I’d said,” laughed Kiyoshi, a cheerful grin on his lips as he continued sipping on his hot chocolate. “And some of them were walking in that direction already all on their own. Look at Kuroko. He completely severed himself from the underworld.”

“I don’t think he did it out of the goodness of his heart though,” pointed out Hyuuga, inwardly cringing at their earlier interactions with the bluenette. He mumbled, “But well… any reason is a good reason…”

“Right?” happily acknowledged Kiyoshi, once again flashing a grin at his partner. As he was about to continue speaking, however, a crashing sound cut through the peaceful cold night.

After they exchanged a quick glance in between themselves, they inched closer to the corner of the wall, taking a peek at the other side of the building.

“I guess I deserved at least that much,” sighed Akashi, straightening his body after having crashed against the trash container kept next to the backdoor of the hotel’s kitchen area.

“You deserve much more than a punch,” nearly hissed Kuroko, a deep glare in his teal eyes as he observed the redhead cleaning the smudge of blood on his lower lip. “Not even a million punches could forgive you for what you’ve done!”

_ Oh no…! _ , inwardly yelped Hyuuga and Kiyoshi, exchanging another glance - worry now the main emotion going through their faces.

“How many times will we have this discussion, Tetsuya?” asked Akashi, a small frown on his features as he straightforwardly stared right back at the bluenette’s anger. “We did what we had to do to protect ourselves. To protect you!”

“You call killing my best friend protecting me!?” yelled Kuroko, his voice rising to a so very uncharacteristic volume. “He belonged to a rival gang, yes, but that never interfered with my friendship with him. He never did us any harm and he always abstained from joining the constant fights against us, even though he was going against his boss’ orders! Don’t you dare to accuse him of trying to kill me just because I was attacked while going out with him! Don’t you dare to use that as an excuse as to why you killed him!”

“It’s exactly that friendship you had with him that allowed him to take advantage of you when you were the most exposed,” pointed out Akashi, his voice tinged with exasperation as he lightly ran his fingers through his hair. “He used your friendship to his group’s convenience, lead you to a trap and nearly got you killed! Why is it so easy for you to believe in his disgusting lies and fake innocence, but can’t even bring yourself to listen to our side of the whole story?”

“Save those excuses for someone who doesn’t know you as well as I do, Akashi-kun,” scoffed Kuroko, his voice soothing down slightly to fuel the anger burning inside of him. “You’ve hated him since we were children. Years before he joined that gang, you were already constantly spouting lies to prevent me from meeting up with him. Why can’t you be honest with me and yourself and confess that you let your unmeasurable jealousy get the better of you and used me being shot as an excuse to finally kill him?”

“Do you truly believe I’d go that far out of jealousy?” asked Akashi, taking a step forward in the bluenette’s direction. “Despite knowing that it would deeply hurt you?”

“I do,” confessed Kuroko, readily lowered his head and shifting his saddened gaze to the floor. “After all, Ogiwara-kun’s dead. Even though I asked you to look after him in the hospital…”

“Tetsuya, what happened in the hospital after you got out of the surgery room?” inquired Akashi, once again taking a step forward. His frown deepened even further at the mention of the hospital and the incidents that followed right after. Gently, he motioned one of his hands forward and slowly cupped the side of Kuroko’s lowered face with it. “Our dispute against them had reached its climax and we couldn’t risk leading them to the hospital where you were staying at so we kept our distance from there until everything was settled. But when we got there to visit you, you were gone. We tried to talk with the doctors and nurses, but they wouldn’t tell us anything, no matter how many times we asked them. The next time we saw you, it was when you threatened to kill us all for what we did to Shigehiro. What hap-”

“Don’t touch me,” interrupted Kuroko, coldly slapping Akashi’s hand away from him. “You disgust me.”

“...” Slowly, Akashi lowered his arm back to the side of his body, his hands clutched into tight fists brought forward out of frustration and desolation. “Do you… really hate us this much?”

“I do,” acknowledged Kuroko, his immediate answer as cold-blooded as a sharp knife. He lifted his head and looked straight at the redhead’s mismatched eyes, his lips twisted in a grieving smile. “I hate you so much it drove me to insanity.”

“Tetsu-”

“Killing you is not enough,” suddenly said Kuroko, lightly shaking his head as he kept staring at Akashi. “I need to utterly destroy you. Wreck your pride, rob you from your dreams and hopes, take whatever little things you hold dear away from you. Maybe then I’ll finally be able to have a little bit of peace of mind…”

With that, Kuroko turned around on his heels and walked away, leaving a speechless Akashi behind in the dark of that cold, northern night.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to read more chapters and more fanfictions, including the ones Ao3 has deleted, go [here](https://mafyswritinghut.blogspot.com/). (construction ongoing)  
New blog with all fics, chapters, webnovels and explanations why I decided to not even put a fight and leave Ao3 instead.


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